Once Desired, now Dreaded
by render me daxless
Summary: [Oneshot] This is a story about a select few Naruto characters in a very special moment, for me, at least. Please, find it in your heart to read this, and please read the author's note inside. Thank you.


eXd: My graduation was June 9th, 2005. I am writing this story to remember exactly how my last day at my elementary school was. These memories are all REAL. They actually happened to me. All I did was replace the names of my friends with characters from Naruto. This is very genuine, and it's pretty heartfelt, well for me at least. This was my last day of being an eighth grader, and I want it to last. Feel free to review; it'll be much appreciated, BELIEVE me.

**BEWARE**: Total OOCness, so don't read if you don't like them being Out Of Character (OOC)

**DEDICATION**: This is dedicated to one of my best friends, Kortney M. She wasn't there for the bus ride home, so I wrote this story for her. Thanks for everything, Kort!

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.**

**Once Desired, now Dreaded**

'_This is it.'_ It was a slightly chilly day; very unusual for early June in Southern California, United States. Kids were gathered around, several of them not wanting to really leave, even though they'd be back here in 8 hours, give or take. This was the day they were looking forward to for 14 years, a.k.a. their whole life. But today, it was different. Back in the early days of the year, it was, "I can't wait to get out of this hell hole!", and, "Oh my god, I hate it here!"

What was once the most desired day, is now the most dreaded. Many of them wanted to leave. They were all hanging around the front yard, stalling for more time to be with their friends. The adults were lined up around the gate and the front of the building, shaking rattles, pounding drums, and the works. A few tears could be seen, trailing their way slowly down the cheek of an emotional teacher.

Several of girls were exchanging hugs. Off near a small tree were five young ladies. "Oh my god -sob-, I will -sob-miss you -sniff- _so_ much!" Hinata cried. TenTen pulled her into a bear hug, but the lavender-haired girl didn't mind.

"I know! I -sob- am gonna miss -sniff- you guys too!" TenTen managed to choke out. Both girls were hugging and crying like there was no tomorrow.

Standing not even a foot away were Ino, Sakura, and Temari. The three girls were in one big hug, crying on each other's shoulders, wetting the upper part of their sweaters.

"Oh my god, I love you guys _so_ much! Thanks you, for everything you guys did for me! You guys are the best friends anyone could ask for! I love you guys so much!" Ino sobbed.

At first, Temari was unaffected by this special event known as the "last day of eighth grade". But soon after her best friends started crying, she began violently fanning her eyes, until it was too late. Hot, wet tears flooded her vision, and all she could make out were two blurry figures on either side of her.

"We, we love you t-too, Ino," Temari sputtered. She allowed her tears to flow freely. She sniffed, and tried to recompose herself.

At that moment, the bell rang, signaling the students to load onto the busses. Sakura rubbed her friends' backs and gave them a teary smile. "Okay guys, I'll see you at Ceremonies tonight, okay? I love you guys."

Temari just managed to nod. She fanned her eyes furiously with both hands, until her floods of tears were reduced to a minimum. Ino gave both of her friends one last hug before she left with her mother to get her makeup, hair, and nails done. Everyone had exactly five and a half hours to prepare themselves for Ceremonies. Temari and Ino walked off to two different directions, getting ready to go out to town to make themselves fabulous for tonight.

Sakura walked onto her bus. When she arrived home, she planned on showering and then getting ready to go to her Auntie's house to get her hair and makeup done.

Upon arriving at the back of the bus, where all the eighth graders sat, she noticed two boys, Sabaku no Gaara and Uzumaki Naruto, occupying the other backseat. She set her backpack down on the seat and scooted all the way to the window. At first glance, both boys appeared to be unfazed. However, about ten minutes into the bus ride, Sakura noticed Naruto's shoulders shaking. His eyes were red, and tears were flowing freely.

"A-are you okay, Naruto?" Sakura questioned quietly. She didn't want to draw attention to the tear-shedding boy. He managed a nod.

Looking past him, he noticed Gaara had slightly red eyes also, but his shoulders weren't shaking as badly. She felt sorry for the two boys. She never knew any of them to show emotion, especially not sorrow. Unfortunately at that moment, the little kids decided to choose that time to look to the back of the bus. They saw the two boys sobbing, and started standing up and pointing. This pissed Sakura off.

"Hey, turn around, you stupid kids! Turn around and sit down!" she yelled. Damn, the worst thing you can do to a crying person is to well... make them cry more. That, and to point and make a big commotion about it, which those kids decided to do. Both boys looked at each other, then at Sakura. They sniffed and continued reminiscing.

After the scolding Sakura had given them, a few of them turned around, but many of them kept on staring, pointing, and whispering behind hands. Infuriated, Sakura stood up.

"Oh my god, turn around you frickin' brats! They're not zoo animals, so quit staring!" Yeah, that shut them all up. Sakura sat back down, content with the results her shrieking had accomplished. At that moment, Naruto, who was on the edge of the seat, pulled out his yearbook. He handed it to one of his 7th grade friends.

"Hey man, you wanna sign it?" His friend nodded.

"I don't have a pen, dude."

Naruto turned to Sakura. "Sakura, can I borrow a pen, please?"

The young lady nodded. She whipped out a black pen and handed it to the younger student. At that moment, she decided to pull out her own yearbook. She hadn't really wanted Naruto to sign it. I mean, sure they were kind of friends, but she would have felt content not having his autograph in his yearbook. But, since today was the last day of seeing him until High School, (Naruto wasn't able to participate in the Ceremonies) she might as well do it. She silently pulled out her yearbook and handed it to Naruto, who accepted it.

Once his friend finished signing his book, Naruto began to write in Sakura's. Once he handed it back to her, she read what he wrote:

_Sakura,_

_Hey, I'm sorry if I was ever a jerk to you this year. I'm sorry. You were, and still are, a great person. I hope you have a good summer. Don't change, and I'll see you at High School! _

_Uzumaki Naruto _

Sakura reread the message. _'Oh, no!'_ She could feel them coming. An onslaught of tears. She sniffed, sobbed, cried, everything. After a minute or so, she tapped Naruto on his back. He looked up with teary eyes.

"Th-thanks, N-N-Naru-to-to. Th-that mes-ss-ssage m-meant alot-t." Even though it was sort of choppy, Naruto managed to understand what Sakura meant. He nodded and gave her a hug.

After half an hour or so, Sakura still couldn't stop crying. She was still on the bus, and tried to control those god damn tears of hers. _'Okay, think of happy times. Think happy.'_ She thought back to all the good times she and her friends had.

_FLASHBACK_

_"Hey, Sakura, help me lean on the door!" Temari commanded. They were in the girl's bathroom, and Ino was in the bathroom stall. Both girls pushed against the stall door with all their might, trying to prevent Ino from coming out. Hinata heard the entire ruckus from the second stall. She just shook her head._

_From the inside, Ino was pushing with all her might. She managed to open the door about six inches, which was pretty impressive. _'How is she doing that?' _Sakura questioned in her head._

_But before she could come up with an answer, the door broke off its hinges. "AHHH!" the three girls screamed, as they toppled onto one another, and the door. All three girls scrambled to get up, and rushed out of the bathroom. They dashed down the hallway, before Temari pulled on their sleeves. _

"_Stay cool. Act casual and no one will suspect a thing." Her two friends nodded, and started walking how they considered 'casually'. Their steps were slow and each stride was purposeful._

"_Wait a minute, I said casual!" _

_A few minutes later, Hinata rushed up to them. "You guys left me in there! I came out of the stall, and what did I see? A stall door on the GROUND, not on its hinges, but the GROUND! How did you guys manage that?"_

_END FLASHBACK_

Thinking back about those times only made Sakura cry harder, but now, her memories came rushing at her.

_FLASHBACK_

"_Hurry, throw it out while the bus driver isn't looking!" Ino commanded. _

"_Hang on! I still gotta tie it to the fishing string, so just chill for a second." Sakura wound the string around the action-figure's waist, then his arms, and then his neck. "Okay, here goes nothing!" The pink haired girl sitting in the back seat chucked the toy out the window, and gave it about fifty feet of string._

"_Wahoo! Yeahaha!" Temari thundered. Hinata quickly clamped her hand over her friend's mouth._

"_Sh! We don't want the other people to hear! We'll get in trouble for throwing things out the bus window." Temari nodded, and Hinata removed her hand. _

_TenTen handed Sakura, who was holding on to the end of the string – which was wound around a pencil – her pocket knife. "Just in case you need to cut it off, ya know?" Sakura nodded, and smiled. The five best friends looked out the bus window surreptitiously. The now beat-up toy was flying up and through the air! It caught like fifteen feet of air! It continued to bounce up and down from the asphalt, until, - sadly – a truck backed up and ran over the fishing string. _

_What were the odds that a truck would come backing up onto the string! Sakura disappointedly pulled the string back into the bus. Then, she smiled. _

_She turned to TenTen. "Did you see how high it bounced?" _

_The brunette grinned widely. "Yeah! And it was awesome, how nobody saw it!"_

_Temari smirked. "Well that's because we are the best. The action figure is gray, and we used fishing string, which is pretty hard to see from the front of the bus. Plus, Sakura wrapped her sweater around her head, which kind of hides the string protruding from the bus window."_

"_Yeah, and we also gave it like fifty feet of string! It's back there, but we can see it perfectly," Hinata commented._

_Ino gave them all a high five. "Great job, you guys."_

_END FLASHBACK_

Sakura continued to cry, but she smiled a little bit. She held her head high. To be able to cry with your head up and proud is true courageousness. (A/N: That was my very own line!)

_FLASHBACK_

"_Oi, Anko-sensei!" Sakura called. But, Anko didn't hear her, for she was walking towards the classroom's door. _'Is she just going to walk out without answering my question?'_ Sakura thought furiously._

_Sakura quickly turned around, but didn't see her teacher._

"_God damnit! Anko-sensei didn't answer my question! Ah, that bitch!"_

_Hinata quickly tugged Sakura's arm, and pointed to the door. There, Anko was standing, hands on hips, looking outside the door._

_Sakura's face screwed up in horror._

_END FLASHBACK_

This time, Sakura managed a chuckle.

_FLASHBACK_

_Everyone was on the bus, listening to their CD players. Temari had her volume turned up especially loud. The five friends were singing along to their own music. _

_The bus driver pulled up to some railroad tracks. The bus was hushed, except for the five girls singing in the back seats of the bus. Hinata noticed everyone looking at them, and tapped her friends on their shoulder, silencing them. All of them, except for Temari, paused their music._

_After a minute of staying still, the bus started moving again. The bus driver shot them a warning look, and Temari saw it. "You guys need to quiet down when we're at the tracks!"_

_Temari saw her bus driver's lips move, and the disapproving scowl on her lips. "Oh shut the fuck up, you bitch."_

"_What? You better not have been talking to me!" Temari's eyes shot open in surprise. Ino thought quickly._

"_Temari! Don't talk to Sakura like that!" The bus driver then looked away from them and shrugged._

"_Quick thinking, Ino!"_

_END FLASHBACK_

Sakura sniffed and smiled at those wonderful memories. They brought tears of joy, laughter, and sorrow. She really was going to miss this school; there was no doubt about that.

Two minutes later, it was Naruto's stop. Before he left, Sakura lightly placed her hand on his shoulder. He turned to her and they exchanged parting words along with a hug. "I'll see you in high school after summer break, okay? Don't change."

"Okay, stay cool over the summer. Bye, Sakura." With that, he got off the bus.

Not even a minute later, it was Gaara's stop. He got up and gave Sakura a big hug. Sakura whispered in his ear, "I'll see you at Ceremonies tonight, okay Gaara? Stay sweet and cool over the summer, okay?"

"Don't worry, I will." Gaara choked back a sob.

"Don't change, okay?" Sakura sobbed hard.

"Okay." He sniffed. With one last squeeze, he released Sakura, and began his walk off the bus.

Sakura took her seat, and waited the few moments before her stop. She started blinking furiously and fanning her eyes. Her tears finally stopped, and she arrived at her own house. She stepped off the bus, and waved to all the little kids remaining on the bus. She'd miss some of them. Not all, but some.

With one deep breath, she began for her house. She had to get ready for the big night. She grinned slightly. _'This is it.'_

**The End. Please read author's note.**

eXd: First off, OCC, I know. But I had to make it fit my grad. Day. Secondly, for all of those who have graduated, I sincerely hope this brought back good memories. For those who haven't graduated Eighth grade yet, I hope this gives you something to look forward to. It really is a wonderful moment, despite all the tears.

I can do a follow up, if you'd like. It will contain the actual ceremony. You know, the part where we're all angsty and waiting behind the curtain for it all to begin. Then we wait for our name to be called to receive our diploma. That sort of thing. With all the crying, and the friends. Yeah, the works. Tell me what you think. **Thank you all truly for reading this, from the very bottom of my heart.**


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